GOP's Reeves Wins Mississippi Gov. Race

Republicans are keeping their hold on the governorship in Mississippi, despite facing the best-funded Democrat in more than a decade.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday defeated Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and two candidates who ran low-budget campaigns.

Reeves will succeed Gov. Phil Bryant, who is limited by state law to two terms.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both traveled to Mississippi in recent days to campaign for Reeves, who is completing his second term as lieutenant governor after serving two terms as the elected state treasurer.

Hood is finishing his fourth term as attorney general.

Republicans have been governor in Mississippi for 24 of the past 28 years. The last Democratic governor lost in 2003 as he sought a second term.

Voters who cast ballots in Mississippi's most competitive governor's race in recent history say that President Donald Trump is playing a role in their decisions.

In Picayune, Mississippi, 74-year-old Linda Marcum voted straight down the lines for Democrats. She said Trump drove that vote, calling the president a bully and "an embarrassment." She said the Trump and Pence visits only made her more eager to get out and vote for Democrats.

At the same precinct, 63-year-old Nancy Daly voted for Reeves and she would have even if Trump and Pence hadn't visited the state to support the GOP and rail against the House impeachment inquiry.